January 31, 2024

One of the interesting facts about oxygen and fire is that varying degrees of oxygen can change the colour of a flame. A blue flame means lots of oxygen, while a yellow flame = low oxygen supply. Fire burns only on Earth. Fire can exist on no planet known to man, other than Earth itself. This is because the rest of the planets in our Galaxy don’t have enough oxygen to support the burning of a flame.

- fmcfire.co.uk

January 30, 2024

Approximately 35,000 metric tons of aspirin are produced in factories around the world each year. First derived from the bark of willow trees way back in 1899, aspirin remains one of the most widely used drugs on the planet. Today, over 60 billion aspirin tablets are consumed worldwide each year (with Americans consuming about half of them).

- Tapemark.com (February 23, 2022)

January 29, 2024

In 1992, a cargo ship container tumbled into the North Pacific, dumping 28,000 rubber ducks and other bath toys that were headed from China to the U.S. Currents took them, and news reports said some may have eventually reached Maine and other shores on the Atlantic.

- NPR.org (March 29, 2011)

January 28, 2024

The average family in the United States does 8 to 10 loads of laundry per week, and the majority uses a drying machine. Only 21.2% of families use a clothesline to dry their garments.

- Philips.sa

January 27, 2024

The ancient Romans constructed some of the most durable bridges ever. They built the Caravan Bridge, the world’s oldest reliably dated bridge. It’s a stone arch span over the Meles River in Izmir, Turkey. According to Guinness World Records, it dates from 850 B.C., making it almost 3,000 years old.

- BridgeMastersInc.com (December 23, 2016)

January 26, 2024

By the third trimester, a developing baby can recognize their mother’s voice from inside the womb.

- healthline.com

January 25, 2024

The squeakers in dog toys mimic the sound of prey. And although it’s not pleasant to think about your sweet dog as a predator, all that pouncing, shaking, tearing and removing the fluff-filled insides is mimicking attacking prey.

- Dr. Ana Clara Muñoz, DVM, a behavioral veterinarian with the San Francisco SPCA Behavior Speciality Service

January 24, 2024

The Byte (The byte is composed of eight bits) Kilobyte (1024 Bytes) Megabyte (1024 Kilobytes) Gigabyte (1,024 Megabytes) Terabyte (1,024 Gigabytes) Petabyte  (1,024 Terabytes) Exabyte (1,024 Petabytes) Zettabyte (1,024 Exabytes) Yottabyte (1,024 Zettabytes, or 1,208,925,819,614,629,174,706,176 bytes) Ronnabyte (1,024 Exabytes) Quettabyte (1,024 Exabytes)

- ZME Science.com (July 28, 2023)

January 23, 2024

A dog’s sense of smell is legendary, but did you know that their nose has as many as 300 million receptors? In comparison, a human nose has about 5 million.

- The American Kennel Club

January 22, 2024

The history of bird feeding in America dates back to 1845, when Henry David Thoreau fed birds at Walden Pond. In 1926, the first commercially made birdfeeder, designed for hummingbirds, went on the market. Today, more than 50 million Americans put out a billion pounds of birdfeed each year.

- Gertens.com

January 21, 2024

On March 20, 1939, Ruth Wakefield, who ran the popular Toll House restaurant in Whitman, Massachusetts, gave Nestlé the right to use her cookie recipe and the Toll House name. In a bargain, the price was a dollar—a dollar that Wakefield later said she never received (though she was reportedly given free chocolate for life and was also paid by Nestlé for work as a consultant).

- The New Yorker (December 19, 2013)

January 20, 2024

Although both chocolate aand strawberries have been around for a long time, it was not until a woman named Lorraine Lorusso combined the two in the 1960s that the decadent chocolate covered strawberry was created. Lorraine worked at a small gourmet store called the Stop N’ Shop in Chicago. She took a tempered version of the gourmet chocolate served in the store aand dipped the seasons’ freshest berries into the mixture. She allowed the chocolate to harden aand then served them to paying customers. The treat was an instant success.

- American Dream Cakes.com (January 27, 2015)

January 19, 2024

A group of crows is called a “murder.” There are several different explanations for the origin of this term, mostly based on old folk tales and superstitions. Many view the appearance of crows as an omen of death because ravens and crows are scavengers and are generally associated with dead bodies, battlefields, and cemeteries, and they’re thought to circle in large numbers above sites where animals or people are expected to soon die.

- PBS (February 21, 2013)

January 18, 2024

The aptly named Centennial Light at the Livermore/Pleasanton Fire Department in California is the world longest lasting incandescent bulb. The bulb has been in use since 1901, meaning that as of 2021, the bulb has surpassed its initial title and has been burning for 120 years!

- electricaldirect.co.uk (December 23, 2021)

January 17, 2024

The original patent for the fire hydrant was destroyed in a fire.

- interestingfacts.com

January 16, 2024

Crochet comes from the word croc/croche, the French word for hook. It also could be connected to the Norse word krokr, which also means hook.

- darngoodyarn.com (May 18, 2022)

January 15, 2024

LEGO’s founder, Ole Kirk Christiansen, created the name “LEGO” from taking the first two letters of the Danish words LEG GODT, meaning “play well“.

- National Geographic Kids

January 14, 2024

Of the 100 billion garments produced each year, 92 million tonnes end up in landfills. To put things in perspective, this means that the equivalent of a rubbish truck full of clothes ends up on landfill sites every second.

- Earth.org (August 21, 2023)

January 13, 2024

There are over 75 million pet dogs in the U.S. — more than in any other country.

- The American Kennel Club

January 12, 2024

Historians believe that the first people to celebrate birthdays were the Romans. On the birthdate of family members, friends, or business contacts, the celebrated were regaled with banquets, gifts, and prayers.

- Psychology Today (April 7, 2020)

January 11, 2024

The average person spends 81,396 hours at work. “Americans are now more likely to make friends at work than any other way — including at school, in their neighborhood, at their place of worship, or even through existing friends,” according to the Survey Center on American Life.

- Harvard Business Publishing (October 07, 2022)

January 10, 2024

Because the Earth rotates through two tidal “bulges” every lunar day, coastal areas experience two high and two low tides every 24 hours and 50 minutes. High tides occur 12 hours and 25 minutes apart. It takes six hours and 12.5 minutes for the water at the shore to go from high to low, or from low to high.

- National Ocean Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

January 09, 2024

Mathematicians calculate that there are 177,147 ways to knot a tie.

- phys.org (February 10, 2014)

January 08, 2024

[Snow] reflects up to 90 percent of the light, with no color absorbed, therefore it is the light reflecting off the fallen snow that makes it appear to be white. Dust, pollution, and algae may make it seem to be blue, black, or even pink.

- Farmers Almanac (November 20, 2023)

January 07, 2024

Fresh snow cover dampens sound because it absorbs sound waves. If the snow melts, however, and then refreezes, the newly formed ice layer reflects sound waves, allowing sound to travel far and clear.

- National Snow and Ice Data Center

January 06, 2024

In the U.S., 65% of self-storage renters have a garage in their home, 47% have an attic, and 33 percent have a basement. This suggests that Americans have more things than their homes allow them.

- StoragePRO.com (April 9, 2023)

January 05, 2024

Class 3 Garments: this reflective gear must be worn by workers who have tasks that place them in imminent danger from approaching traffic. To meet OSHA standards, the wearer must be conspicuous at a minimum distance of 1,280 feet when wearing high-visibility clothing.

- FONIRRA.com

January 04, 2024

Adult tree squirrels normally live alone, but they sometimes nest in groups during severe cold spells. A group of squirrels is called a "scurry" or "dray."

- treehugger.com

January 03, 2024

The liquid inside of a spirit level is more commonly an alcohol, rather than just water. This is because alcohol allows the air bubble to move about the tube more quickly and to settle with less interference from the container, due to its low viscosity and low surface tension.

- HigherPrecision.com

January 02, 2024

In an average year in the U.S., outdoor lighting uses some 120 terawatt-hours of energy, mostly to illuminate streets and parking lots. That’s enough energy to meet New York City’s total electricity needs for 2 years. Unfortunately, up to 50 percent of that light is wasted. That adds up to $3.3 billion and the release of 21 million tons of CO2 per year! To offset all that CO2, we’d have to plant 875 million trees annually.

- DarkSky International

January 01, 2024

There are more public libraries than Starbucks in the U.S. – a total of 16,568, including branches. Nearly 100% of public libraries provide Wi-Fi and have no-fee access to computers.

- American Library Association (ALA)